It is easy to calculate the position of the sun very accurately based on location and time. I do not understand why an optimization algorithm is used when you could just calculate the position. The MBED has an on board real time clock and the location could be input each time it was moved so a dedicated GOS unit on the tracker would not be required.

An on GPS could easily be used if the designer thought the drift on the RTC was too great. The location of the system could be read in from the GPS when started at a new location. Measurements of the location could be read in for a pre-determined period and the location would then just be the average of those results, this would provide a better location. Given the distances involved any location the GPS gave you would suffice anytime the GPS had a lock.

this is exactly what one company did recently. Instead of having rotating solar cells, they were cylindrical with a reflector below them that was also cylindrical. When done in a larger quantity this is much more efficient than rotating a flat panel (they claim).

Here they are if you're curious. http://www.solyndra.com/technology-products/

Good thoughts, Luis, and it made me think of another approach. Why not put a tube slightly greater than the diameter of the solar cell that would channel the maximum amount of sunlight when the tube is pointed directly at the sun? Then the rig could be calibrated to maintain the maximum voltage from the cell, which would keep it aimed at the sun.

The way the correction has been applied to rotate the panels to get maximum sunlight thruout the day, a similar correction can be done to track the sun's north south movement during the year. This is especially required for the regions which are away from the equatorial regions.

We at school tried to do this almost same thing. But We were using a stepper motor and it was more of a simulation as we didn't have real solar panels.

But, reading about this makes me question... how about using the same current that the solar panel yields as a measure or as the level to judge if the panel is receiving the light at the expected levels. Mmmm just by thinking on it I guess it would be more difficult as some variations are added to the system like the fact that the sunlight varies in the course of the day and also varies with the seasons.

Thus, perhaps this is something to consider for using all that horse power in the MBED brain ... to make it able to get the weather info and from that define a range of sunlight intensity. Then wage that with some tables which model the expected intensity during the day and season and vuola! now you can spare some hardware and save some bucks! If it's mass produced then you'd be saving a lot of dollars man!

I get it. So the problem wasn't that the sun was brighter, but was more evenly distributed -- the distance from one side of the board wasn't any different from the other side. That makes sense. I'm still not sure how he keeps the increasing angle of the sun against the shade from increasingly throwing off the calibration, but I'll just accept the notion that he found a solution. Thanks!